Baseball

Prescia's 11th Inning Single Wins Game for MSMC

Apr 30, 2010

Prescia's 11th Inning Single Wins Game for
MSMC

#3 Mount Saint Mary - 7, #2 St. Joseph's - 5 (11
innings)

Farmingdale, N.Y. - A two RBI single to left
field by freshman third baseman Matt Prescia (Oakdale,
N.Y./Connetquot) in the top of the 11th inning gave Mount Saint
Mary a 7-5 lead and would hold as the game-winning hit, as the
third-seeded Blue Knights defeated second-seeded St. Joseph's in
game two of today's Second Round of the Skyline Conference Baseball
Tournament. Mount Saint Mary (14-18) advances to face top-seed
Farmingdale State (21-13) on Saturday at Noon in the winners
bracket of the double-elimination tourney, while the Golden Eagles
(18-18) will meet fourth seed Old Westbury (20-17) at 3:30 p.m. in
the losers bracket.

St. Joe's jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on four hits in the
top of the first. Senior second baseman Mike Gerdes (Wantagh,
N.Y./MacArthur) singled up the middle to score senior centerfielder
Ryan Carroll (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) from second base.
Sophomore right fielder Prateek Thaman (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge)
doubled to left center to score Gerdes from second. Thaman scored
the final run of the inning on a passed ball.

Both teams would go scoreless over the next four innings, before
the Blue Knights tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth with
two fielder's choice RBI's from junior catcher Louis Peisel
(Brewster, N.Y./JFK Catholic) and sophomore first baseman John
Conroy (Middletown, N.Y./John S. Burke Catholic), followed by a
groundout by freshman left fielder Paul Cherubino (Middletown,
N.Y./Pine Bush) which scored sophomore shortstop Max Tecce (Glen
Cove, N.Y./Glen Cove) from third.

But in the bottom of the inning, the Golden Eagles regained the
lead, 4-3, on a homerun over the left field wall by junior third
baseman Frank DiPresso (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford). Mount
Saint Mary took their first lead of the game with two runs in the
seventh to make it 5-4, before St. Joe's scored a run on their next
at-bat to tie the game at 5-5.

After three more scoreless innings, the Blue Knights loaded the
bases in the 11th on two walks and a hit by pitch with no outs.
Prescia knocked in the two runs and winning pitcher Ben Shortslef
(Sterling, N.Y./Hannibal) secured the win with two strikeouts and a
foul out in the bottom of the inning, helping advance his team to
the winners bracket.

The winner of #1 Farmingdale State/#3 Mount Saint Mary will
advance to the Championship game on Sunday, May 2nd at Noon. The
loser of that game will face the winner of the #2 St. Joseph's/#4
Old Westbury game on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m., with that winner
advancing to the Championship.